I noticed recently (and confirmed by my scorecards) that I have begun to collapse on 9 and or 18. Does anyone have tips for closing a side strong?
1 Like
Iâve had times where I seem to close out rounds very strong and then fall apart in others. Lately, itâs the latter. Earlier in the year, I felt unstoppable coming down the stretch!
In my view, itâs just the ebb and flow of the game. As you gain more experience and start to know that you can play well when you feel the pressure building, thatâs a feather in your cap. But there isnât a golfer on the planet that doesnât struggle with closing out rounds from time to time, or even for prolonged periods.
The best way I have found to deal with it is to accept both results equally (good and bad). If I know that Iâve maintained my mental composure, gone through my routine, and picked smart targets, thatâs all I can control. If you commit to those three things, youâll give yourself a better chance at removing those painful meltdowns, but youâll unfortunately never eliminate them.
4 Likes
I think the best thing you can do is stop worrying about your score. Pick your target and play to it. Focus just on that. Oh and work on your routine. You should be able to get it so scripted that youâll just be able to go through the motions once you start.
Note that there is a difference between caring about score and worrying about score. Obviously you care, but itâs by letting go that you maximize your chances to score well. So do what you can. Control what you can and the result will be what it is. You canât do anything about it so stop worrying about it.
I freely admit that this is much easier to say than to do by the way. But there is no reason this canât be your intention.
3 Likes
As others have mentioned, the ideal is to try to mentally see each hole and each shot as distinct events and stay present in them. Thatâs very difficult to just try to do right off, so a good starting point is to break up the 9 into 3 groups of 3 (try to mentally reset on hole 4 etc.) If that becomes more comfortable, then try to reset each hole.
Without seeing you play I canât say for sure, but a lot of times I think this issue is caused by trying to stay focused for the entire 9/18. Thatâs incredibly tiring on the brain, so mental errors are easier to make. Breaking things up gives more natural times to âswitch offâ and reduce the mental fatigue.
3 Likes
Nick Faldo had some really great, simple, advice for hitting quality shots under pressure. He said you need to bring yourself into the present by asking yourself a simple question,
âwhat do I need to do right now?â
So then you would tell yourself âI need to hit this 7 iron 160 yards with a little fade, to the middle of the greenâ
Then you ask yourself âRight, thatâs what I need, how I am going to do that?â
Then you reply âwith this swing right hereâŚâ and you make the exact practice swing with your 7 iron that you feel would accomplish that goal
Then you say âthat will do it. Iâve got thisâ and you step in without hesitation and make the same swing you have just proven to yourself you can make.
It has worked for me like a charm
11 Likes
Do you notice the times you ruin a good round with a bad FIRST hole? A missed putt stays in our minds because its (potentially) the last stroke on a hole, a poorly played 18th seems to âruinâ a good round. But we all have bad holes, and theyâre often distributed randomly through the holes. Now if you score worse over the long run on the 18th than you do on the 5th or the 13th, maybe thatâs something to look at.
Beyond that, I think @GolfVictim has the right idea. Do your best to treat each shot the same, as a repeat of something youâve done successfully in the past.
4 Likes
Little tip to try (I only do this while playing alone as I usually have a match play game going that I need to score)⌠put down dots instead of numbers⌠do not box or circle scores⌠make it hard to know where you are relative to par⌠do not count strokes at the turn
Second thing is to chase success⌠what would a great tee shot on 18 look like (visualize)? What would it feel like to hit a great tee shot? Can you get that feel in your practice swing? Get that feel and step up and make a GREAT swing
2 Likes
Similar- unless I am playing match play I generally donât know my score until Iâve finished the round and added it up. I started avoiding keeping score about 18mths ago as a way to help stay more in the present. Playing partners are confused by this approach but we all know deep down, knowing the score at any point in the round does not help improve your score on any hole during the rest of your round!
1 Like
There is a lot of things that we become concerned about that we shouldnât. Like how we finish each nine. Many courses have their finishing holes as the most difficult on the course. This answers that question.
Another situation I come up against is why I always bogey the next hole after a birdie. The answer to that
Is that the hole just birdied is usually an easier hole.
A question that really needs answering is âdo you fold to pressureâ? Or do you play the last 3 or 4 holes badly due to ârunning out of gasâ?
2 Likes
Many, many years ago ⌠in the kitchen of a friendâs house ⌠his mother had taped to the bottom of a cabinet door near the sink ⌠a small piece of paper with typewritten wordsâŚ
Function in Disaster..
Finish in Style!
Obviously that always stuck with me - and I was not a golfer at that time (golf came many, many years later) - yet it seems oddly appropriate to the game of golf! 
So good round, bad round⌠Either way I always tell myself, âok letâs finish strongâ (so well-titled article).
I donât think that I lean more towards the âPerformerâ type - seeâŚ
https://practical-golf.com/golf-while-nervous/
âŚbut I do like to come away from the round with a positive image in my mind (while conveniently downplaying whatever happened prior 
).
2 Likes